Every living being somehow interacts with the outside world. In the process of interaction, two elements appear: the subject, which purposefully influences the environment, and the object, which becomes the subject of satisfying the needs of the subject. If we talk about the activities of people, then it can be defined as a consciously directed activity to achieve a set one goal or many goals. As usual, the goal, on the one hand, is connected with the interests and needs that require satisfaction, and on the other hand, with the requirements of society for a person.
General concept of activity
Human activity has a number of characteristics of its own. First, as already mentioned, consciousness is characteristic of human activity (people are aware of the goals, methods and means to achieve them, and predict the results). Scientific psychology declares that without a person's awareness of the goal, one cannot talk about activity, because it will simply be activity. Impulsive behavior is subject to emotions and needs and is characteristic of animals. Secondly,it is difficult to imagine human activity without the manufacture, use and subsequent storage of tools. Thirdly, questions of the psychology of activity also concern a social nature, because it is society or a group that educates, shows a person what and how to do. Thanks to this type of interaction, a person establishes connections with other people, has a different type of relationship with them.
The study of the psychology of activity in the framework of the studies of Soviet psychologists (A. N. Leontiev, S. L. Rubinstein, A. A. Smirnov, B. M. Teplov, etc.) showed that the nature of the flow and development of various processes in the psyche depends on the characteristics of the activity of the bearer of consciousness, its motivational sphere. Also, the results of the experiments of A. N. Leontiev and P. Ya. Galperin indicate that the internal ideal action is formed on the basis of the external material through successive changes in the latter. This process has been called internalization.
Differences between Activity and Activities
Activity is a common characteristic for all living beings, regardless of the level of organization and development. After all, it is she who helps maintain the vital connections of all beings with the environment. It is worth noting that the source of such activity is the needs that stimulate the living organism to act in order to satisfy them. Human needs and the needs of animals have both similarities and differences. Basic physical needs are characteristic of both, but other higher ones are characteristic only of a person, because they are manifested under the influence of socialeducation.
Questions of psychology also consider the differences between activity and activity. The main distinguishing feature is that activity is conditioned by the need for an object, and activity is conditioned by the need for the activity itself. Also activity is primary in relation to activity. After all, the first is also manifested in our thoughts, plans, fantasies, but the second is associated with objects, means. It should be noted that activity is an accompanying element throughout the entire process of activity. Activity ensures the calculation of forces, time, opportunities, mobilization of abilities, overcoming inertia, activates everything that will help achieve a result. Activity is a very important and significant concept in human life. Psychology highlights a certain structural organization of this phenomenon.
Activity and its component structure
The structure of activity in psychology has a significant substantiation as a result of many theoretical and empirical studies. The main determinant of human activity is need. Domestic psychology identifies a group of elements that will be described below.
The first element of this scheme is need. It is defined as a state of burning dissatisfaction that stimulates activity aimed at finding an object that will satisfy this state. Human needs are influenced not only by nature and physiology, but also by socialization and upbringing. Based on these data, the psychology literature provides two classifications:
- Types of needs depending on the subject - material and spiritual.
- Types of needs depending on origin - natural and cultural.
Scientists note that a need is like an impetus so that a person can be active. But not only this phenomenon is guided by man. An important place is occupied by the concept of motive.
If a person has a need for new knowledge, then he can attend a psychology class due to a growing motive. Psychologists interpret this concept in terms of an urge to act, which is associated with the desire to satisfy a need, and which has a clear direction. The need does not have a clear vision, there is no subject, but the motive is its concrete expression. Psychology considers motives, their totality and types. Briefly, she divides motives into conscious and unconscious. The former can be expressed in words, the latter cannot, because they are repressed. It should be noted that one should not identify a motive with a goal, because it often happens that different motives are united by one goal, and different goals are united by one motive.
The goal of scientific psychology is defined as the end result of an activity that exists in the imagination of a person and which he wants to achieve. The expression of the goal can be observed both in the material and in the mental plane. The goal, in turn, is divided into specific tasks that help achieve the desired result.
So, the minimum component of an activity that performs a specific task is an action.
The structure of activity in psychology consists of such elements. The diagram below will help visually perceive the information:
Need - Motive - Purpose - Action - Result.
Activity types
Scientists discuss activity as an external physical and internal mental concept. In this regard, psychology distinguishes the following actions that provide internal mental activity: perceptual process (perception), thought process, mnemonic process (memory), imaginative process (imagination). It is this inner activity that prepares the outer actions. Thanks to them, you can create a plan, think through all aspects of achieving the goal and imagine the end result. Plus, with the help of memory, a person will not repeat the mistakes made earlier.
The structure of activity in psychology, namely internal, has two main features. Firstly, in structure it is the same as the external one, the differences are in the form of flow: operations and actions occur with imaginary objects, and not with real ones, respectively, the result of activity is also mental. Secondly, internal activity was formed from external activity in the process of internalization. For example, at first children read aloud and only after a while there is a transition to inner speech.
But external activity produces external objective actions, namely motor (poses, movements in space), expressive movements (facial expressions and pantomimics), gestures, movements associated with speech (vocal cords).
The opposite process of internalization is consideredexteriorization process. It lies in the fact that external actions are generated as a result of the transformation of internal structures that were formed on the basis of internalization.
Operation, control, evaluation: what is it
The structure of activity in psychology contains several components, and the most specific one, which is carried out in the environment, is an operation. Theoretical scientists have defined an operation as a way to perform certain actions depending on the situation. The operation provides the technical aspect of the action, because it can be performed by different operations or in different ways.
The result of the activity, when it is achieved, goes through the stages of evaluation and control. Control compares the result with the original image and purpose. Evaluation reveals the degree of agreement between the result and the goal. Evaluation is like the last stage of control. A positive assessment indicates satisfaction and positivity of the activity as a whole, and a negative one - vice versa. If you do not like the result, then with the help of control you can send it for revision if possible.
Activity: Forms
Domestic psychology has developed a classification of forms of activity. This includes play, learning activities and work activities. Consider everything in order.
Game is the leading activity for children, because thanks to it they imitate the life of adults, their imaginary world, learn and develop. The game will not give the child any material values, and material goods will not become its product, but itmeets all the parameters of the needs of children. The game is characterized by freedom, isolation, unproductiveness. It ensures the socialization of the child, develops his communication skills, hedonism, cognition and creativity. It also has compensatory functions. The game has its subspecies. This is a subject game, role-playing, a game with rules. The child, passing through a certain stage of development, begins to play other games. In this form of activity, a child can express his emotions, feelings, and this is a huge hint to parents. Also, if a child has a traumatic experience, it is best to resolve it through play.
The next form of activity that a person masters as he grows up is learning activity. With its help, people receive generalized theoretical knowledge, master subject and cognitive actions. Teaching provides a social function, the process of including a young individual in the system of social values and society as such. In the process of learning activities, you can develop your abilities, crystallize your knowledge. The child learns discipline, forms the will.
Scientists believe that the highest manifestation of activity is labor. Labor activity involves the impact on nature with the help of tools and its use for their own consumer purposes. Labor is characterized by awareness, energy consumption, universal recognition and expediency. After graduating from a university or other institution, or, in general, immediately afterschool, a person begins his professional path. The psychological structure of professional activity has the following components:
Conscious Purpose - Object of Labor - Means of Labor - Technology Used - Labor Operation.
Theories of activity psychology
Theory of activity is one of the main methodological foundations for conducting research on the psyche and consciousness. Within its framework, activity is studied as a phenomenon that mediates all mental phenomena and processes. Such a scientific view met with criticism from foreign psychologists. The literature on the psychology of activity dates back to the 1920s and continues to develop today.
There are two interpretations in this direction. The first is described by S. L. Rubinshtein, who developed the principle of the unity of consciousness and activity. The second was created by the famous scientist A. N. Leontiev, who raised the issue of the commonality of the structure of external and internal mental activity.
Theory of activity by S. L. Rubinshtein
This scientist studies the psyche by revealing its meaningful and objective relationships through activity. Rubinstein argues that one should not perceive the internal activity of the psyche as one that is formed through the transformation of the external. Determinism lies in the fact that internal conditions become a mediated element of external causes. Consciousness and activity are not two forms of expression of unity, but two instances that create an indivisible unity.
A. N. Leontiev's activity theory
A research psychologist considers the psyche one of the forms of objective activity. Leontiev is a supporter of the theory of internalization and claims that internal activity is formed as a result of the transition of external actions into internal mental ones. The scientist divides activity and consciousness according to the type of process of formation of the image and the image itself. Having formulated such a theory as the structure of activity in psychology, Leontiev published his collected works in the 1920s. The researcher worked under the supervision of L. S. Vygotsky, studying mnemonic processes, which he interpreted in line with objective activity. In the 30s of the twentieth century, he headed the Kharkov school of activity and continued his theoretical and experimental developments in this problem. For seven years from 1956 to 1963, Leontiev conducted experiments. The results were that he proved the possibility of forming pitch hearing in people with not very good hearing in music on the basis of adequate action. His proposal to consider activity as a set of actions and operations was accepted positively in the scientific psychological world. Leontiev also studied how the psyche arose and developed during the evolutionary period, how consciousness arose in the process of human development, the relationship between activity and consciousness, the age-related development of the psyche and consciousness, the motivational and semantic sphere, the methodology and history of psychology.
Vygotsky's Theory of Activity
Used the theory of activity to explain the peculiarities of the psyche of people and Lev Semenovich. He developed the theory of higher mentalfunctions and was an adherent of the theory of internalization.
The scientist called the cognitive processes that are activated in our psyche the highest mental functions. He believed that earlier, when society was primitive, relations between people were the highest mental functions. But in the process of evolution, these relations were internalized, they were transformed into mental phenomena. The main characteristic of the HMF is mediation with the help of certain symbols and signs. Even before the emergence of speech, people communicated, transmitted knowledge and information using signs. This means that our mental processes worked on a sign system. But if you start to decipher the word, you will find that it is also a certain sign.
Higher mental functions are located in the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex. There are several stages of HMF genesis:
- The form of relationships between people is an interpsychic process.
- Interiorization.
- And actually, the highest mental function is an intrapsychic process.
Theories of activity have already become and will become the foundation for many psychological studies in the domestic space.
